[Samuel x Roman]

h u g o​

Today Hugo kind of hated Letha's kindness. Not really, actually the juice she gave him was just what he needed and he received it with a small but appreciative "thank you," and it always felt nice to know someone was there to notice when he felt off because that meant they cared. But as much as being cared for felt nice it was also the worst because that meant a possibility of people finding out, and especially Letha because she was pretty observant, at least to people's feelings.

"No it's not that bad," Hugo said, but it was probably very obviously a lie, his cheek felt too hot they were probably bright red, and his sandy brown hair was wet at the roots with sweat. It was actually a little embarrassing but it was either that or bruises, and the latter was even more embarrassing. But since it was such an obvious lie though, he needed to come up with a way to make it less obvious, and luckily his freckled skin served as the perfect excuse.

"I just forgot to put on sunscreen before I left this morning, and I'd rather be warm now than burnt later, you know?" he tried, "and I don't really feel like getting any warmer by playing," he shrugged but actually felt a little proud of himself for coming up with such a good excuse, sure it was weird to sit in the blazing hot sun with a hoodie, but compared to the possible threat of skin cancer, or at least really painful burns, it was a little more reasonable.
 
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There was no doubt in Letha's mind that Hugo was lying. She didn't know why he would be lying about something like this, but he absolutely was and it made her worried to think that there was something he was so religiously concealing from them all. Did he not think that he could trust them? Did he not think that they would keep whatever secret it was, or that they could help him with his problems?

"Hugo ..." Letha reached over and put a hand on his upper arm gently. "You need to take it off, I can see how hot you are and you're going to get sick if you keep it on in this heat."

Letha wasn't normally one to press issues that clearly made someone else uncomfortable, but her friend's health and safety was on the line. She wasn't going to just sit here and let her friend suffer, not when he obviously wasn't going to help himself.

"We can go and sit in the library if you want. You're going to get heatstroke or something."
 
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Hugo looked at Letha for a moment, almost stunned because he hadn't really expected her to still question him but she had. He hated how nervous that got him, he didn't know exactly what would happen if Letha found out, maybe she wouldn't even consider that the bruises could be what they were from, but she had noticed some of them before so he wasn't sure if he could excuse them. So he did not want to take his sweater off. But the library honestly didn't sound that bad, anything to get out of the heat. So he nodded and stood up slowly.

"Where are you going?" Kristen asked curiously, their other friends gave them similar looks, wondering where they were off to.

"The library, it's warm out here," Hugo said, hoping no one would comment on that the solution was just for him to take his sweater off but luckily no one seemed to think about it, or maybe they were just sparing him the excuses or something, either way, they didn't ask and Kristen nodded and they went back to their game.

Hugo and Letha continued inside and to the library where it thankfully was cooler than in the blazing hot sun, though still a little warm. Even if they had escaped the sun though, huge was still wearing the stupid hoodie and he had still sweat out more than he had been drinking that day, even though he had been sipping on the juice he got from Letha since they got in. And the fact that his nerves had caused his heart to beat faster certainly didn't prevent him from feeling light-headed and hearing a faint ringing in his ears that seemed to get louder.

"Uh Letha?" he said, voice small, as he reached for his friend's shoulder, "I think I need to sit down,"
 
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Letha's eyes widened -- Hugo looked like he was going to faint! That wasn't good at all. She nodded and helped him over to the nearest air conditioning vent, which happened to be in the back of the aisles, and helped him sit down underneath it so he could hopefully cool down.

"There," she murmured, wiping some of the sweat off his forehead. She bit her lip and looked at him, and realised that he was quite weak and drowsy at the moment. So, she took advantage of that fact to take off his hoodie while he couldn't stop her. She felt terrible for doing so in his moment of weakness, but she knew it was necessary to help him get better.

What she saw was absolutely horrifying. Most of the bruises were on his back, which she couldn't see. But she could see the smaller bruises on his arms. And even if it wasn't the worst of it, it was still really really freaking bad, and it made Letha feel sick to her stomach.

"Oh my God, what happened?"
 
h u g o​

Hugo barely reflected on what was going on when Letha led him ower somewhere else, the ringing in his ears continued and his eyes were starting to grey over so he just held on to Letha and stumbled with her until she sat him down. And she helped him get his sweater off and it was such a relief and for a moment he just sat there, breathing and just allowing his body a moment to rest, not that he could have done anything if he wanted to. Still Hugo snapped out of it only second after he heard Letha ask what happened and then he truly realised that Letha could very much see his arms, which had a couple of bad bruises on them. And now she wanted to know why and he had already excused them once so no matter what he said it'd sound like a lie.

But he couldn't tell her the truth. He felt kind of terrible about that, because Letha was so sweet and he didn't want to hurt her and that's what lying did, and then maybe Letha wouldn't want to be his friend anymore and he'd have no one to take him into the library when he was so warm he literally was starting to feel sick.

The thought, combined with the stress of trying to figure out what to say and knowing that Letha had seen his arms was enough to bring tears to his eyes, but he stubbornly didn't let them well over and just crossed his arms so Letha wuldn' have as good of view of them, "I was gonna bike to the store to get some milk cus we were out and I turned really quickly over some gravel and I fell, but I was wearing long pants and stuff so I didn't scrape anything, but I got some pretty bad bruises. I just don't want people to worry about t when it's such a nothing thing though," he said, staring straight ahead in the hopes that Letha wouldn't see how glossy his eyes were.
 
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Letha just didn't understand why Hugo was lying to her. She didn't have proof that he was being untruthful but she knew without a shadow of a doubt in her mind that he was. There was something else going on, something dark and scary and it made Letha sick with worry just thinking about it. But she didn't have any proof. She didn't even know what was happening.

Something bad was happening to Hugo and Letha had no idea how to stop it or make it better. She wanted to put an end to whatever was hurting him but she knew that she just couldn't. She wasn't capable of doing so, not until he actually told her what was going on.

Letha sniffled, the tears welling over her cheeks, and she went in to pull Hugo in for a gentle hug. "I don't know what's going on but please remember you can tell me anything you need to," she whispered, and she hoped -- no, she prayed -- that he would heed her advice.
 
s a m u e l​

"hey, could you pass me the menu?" Samuel said to Evan, who seemed done with his.

"What didn't you get your own?" Evan questioned, just for the sake of it.

"Nah I don't think there was one here when I came, Roman is hogging the one I had access too," Samuel laughed and nudged his husband's shoulder, he seemed busy trying to decide what to order.

Today was technically not a special day, but the entirety of their friend group and booked a table at a restaurant and gone there to celebrate. It was no one's birthday and no holiday, however, they had realised how long they had all been friends, and the fact that a majority of them had turned forty this year. That was kind of a big deal, so they had decided to all get together and do something fun. it wasn't every day they could get together everyone, they were all adults with lives of their own, but when they did it was always a blast.

"Alright, you can have it but only because it makes me feel better than Roman," Evan joked and handed Samuel the menu, Samuel received it and started to look through it.

"Have you decided what to get yet, love?" he asked his husband sweetly.
 
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Roman and Elliot had just been sitting on the couch one day, watching their kids play on the carpet in front of them, when they had realised that they had been friends for just over thirty years. After that, Roman had reflected on how long he and his friends had actually known each other for, and he had thought that that was pretty fucking cool. So, they had all decided to just get together to commemorate this, since it was absolutely something that should be celebrated.

"No, I have not," Roman told his boyfriend, licking his lips as he continued to ponder over the menu. There were so many options and Roman honestly wanted to have everything, but he couldn't do that, obviously. He looked up at his friends, all of whom just seemed so happy, and smiled. This was just lovely.

"I think I'm going to get the Greek lamb," London said.

"No one cares, London," Roman retorted, like a professional tennis player just hitting back like second nature.

"Roman, I thought this dinner was meant to be a nice and pleasant occasion, but here you are bullying me. I am deeply upset. Evan, kill him."
 
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Evan, always one to go with the joke, grabbed the knife by his plate and held it up towards Roman in a threatening manner, "Look man, this is nothing personal, I've actually started to tolerate your presence over the years, but if London says you gotta die, you gotta die,"

"Evan, please put the knife away," Samuel said, trying to not let his genuine worry slip through, not that there was a risk of anything, he suppose it was just the arent in him who automatically felt like someone's eye was going to get poked out if you played with eating utensils. Also, Roman was literally a haemophiliac so maybe he wasn't the guy to play with knives with.

Samuel's request, of course, opted Evan to instead direct it towards him instead, "What? Does this make you nervous?"

"Are you literally five?" Samuel said, shaking his head and using his hand to direct the knife away from himself and his husband.

".... Yes, but at least I'm not lame,"

Their conversation was cut short by the waiter coming to take everyone's orders, luckily not at their end first so the poor guy didn't have to see the literal grown adults acting like children, but eventually, the waiter came to take their orders too and Samuel requested one of the vegetarian pasta dishes.
 
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When the waiter came, Roman ordered a porterhouse steak, cooked rare, of course, and then turned to call down the table to Elliot. "Elliot, what did you get?"

"Steak. Porterhouse," Elliot called back.

"Rare?"

"Of course, what do you think I am, some kind of heathen?"

Roman smiled proudly and saluted his good friend. "Respect, man. But like actually I got the same."

"It's because we have a psychic connection."

"Oh, shit, maybe. Maybe we should divorce our spouses and get married." Roman turned to Samuel with a pretty expression, clearly jokingly trying to get Samuel to agree with his idea. "Sammy, baby, can I divorce you and marry Elliot?"
 
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Samuel raised his eyebrows at Roman, questioning his entire being, or maybe just the joke, but still, "Really Roman, are you going to divorce me because of Elliot's meat preferences, I thought you were better than that," he shook his head slowly as if disappointed with his husband, "I will not divorce you if that's the reason,"

"Aww Samuel, don't be a spoilsport," Matilda joined in with one of her cute little giggles, her hair was no longer the colourful splash of purple or pink or teal or whatever she felt that month, had it hadn't been for a while now. She had replaced it, for now, with a nice nutty brown, though she was still seemingly experimenting a little with what natural colour suited her the best. They had all seemingly gotten to a point where they were dressing their age more. It wasn't like Tilly wouldn't keep her hair some crazy colour if she wanted to or, Roman wouldn't do a face of make up when he felt like it, but in general there wasn't as much focus on standing out as it had been when they were younger. Everyone still had their own individual styles and the group was clearly leaning the alternative way, but still, some things they had left in their past as they grew older and tastes changed.

"I wouldn't want to stay in the way of true love, they have my blessings at least," Matilda continued with a bright smile. Evan chuckled a little, clearly amused y the joking going around.

Samuel pretended to think about it for a moment, "Alright, I'll divorce you, but only if I get the dog and the cats and also most time with the kids"
 
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Everyone watched as Roman pretended to deliberate the offer. They probably thought he would balk at the idea of giving up his pets and kids, but Roman just shrugged, and said, in the most casual tone, "Okay, fine by me."

And just like that, the table burst into laughter. Elliot blew Roman a kiss from his end of the table and Roman pretended to catch it and press it to his lips. He was having a whole lot of fun with his friends and husband, and it was times like this that made him feel over the moon.

Soon everyone had their meals, and Roman turned to face Elissa. "Elissa, has my idiot brother been behaving himself at work?" Roman asked her.

"Well, he hasn't made a fool of himself recently. He did break someone else's coffee cup by accident the other day, though."

"Really? You should publicly lynch him. He broke one of my coffee cups when we were kids, this is a serious pattern of behaviour that most be stopped before it gets out of hand."
 
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"Maybe he's on a mission to get rid of all ugly cups in the world?" Gabi suggested playing up the defensiveness on her voice as a joke, seeing as she really had little to no connection with Roman's brother.

"Are you insinuating that my lovely husband at one point would have owned a cup that was ugly?" Samuel said, playing up being offended in equal manner, as if child Roman's choice of cups actually mattered to him.

"Well yes, of course, that is exactly what it would mean," Gabi said and nodded, eyes closed for a moment, acting as if that was the only possible thing to make sense.

"Wow, how dare you, Roman would never own something ugly," Samuel insisted and so Gabi turned to Roman instead.

"Roman, please describe the ugly cup to us?"
 
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Roman, like his husband, proceeded to act exceedingly offended when it was implied that the cup was ugly. "Um, no, excuse me, it was a beautiful piece of crockery. It was just plain white -- minimalist, good with any outfit, and perfect for an Instagram post."

"Even when he was, like, twelve, Roman was very fashionable," Elliot agreed with a nod.

"Thank you, Ell. See, this is why Elliot and I are going to get divorces and then go and marry each other."

"Excuse me, I am also acutely aware of how fashionable you were when you were younger, so if that's the only criteria then I want in on this marriage too," said Cameron.

Roman looked at Elliot. "Is that okay with you?"

"Sure. We can have curly-haired babies, something Samuel, obviously, is incapable of giving you."
 
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"I have never been more offended in my entire life," Samuel said, keeping the offended tone, but not for his husband now, not even at the insinuation that he was leaving him for not one, but two other men, no this was about smething that was a great deal more important, "Who cares about coffee mugs? As the person who possesses some of the curliest hair here and has produced at least two curly haired children--"

"they are adopted" Evan interrupted and Samuel gave him the deathliest glare he could muster, which wasn't all that great because he had never been known to be a good actor. Instead, he decided to tell his best friend off with words.

"Shut the fuck up Evan, no one cares about your opinion," this was followed by a giggling "oooh" by Gabi as Samuel kept acting uncharacteristically angry and annoyed about such a silly thing, "-- I demand you take back that statement immediately, or I will sue you so hard you'll think you're in America for a second,"
 
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Samuel was cute when he was angry, like a growling kitten, or a child throwing a tantrum. Roman laughed and gave his grumpy husband a kiss to the cheek, unable to prevent himself from doing so when he was just being so damn adorable.

"Okay, okay, I take it back," said Elliot, holding his hands up in surrender. "Samuel, all of your children have the loveliest and curliest hair, even Letha, who has perhaps the straightest hair I've ever seen."

"It is curly in spirit," said Roman.

"Whatever you say, mate."

Roman laughed again and took a sip of his drink, before glancing down at his sweet husband. "You're so cute."
 
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"Yes I am, thank you," Samuel said with a soft chuckle and small smirk, then was quit as if he wasn't about to return the compliment. Even though anyone who knew him knew he would never miss a chance to compliment his lovely husband. But of course he added a sweet, "And you're really lovely too," before going back to his meal

"I feel like someone should say something fancy, like hold a little speech or something," Evan announced about mid through dinner, Samuel rolled his eyes, not because he didn't agree but because Evan was being so dumb about it.

"Then you do it," Samuel suggested dryly.

"Don't be stupid Sammy, I, of course, mean whoever it was that came up with the idea to do this, to begin with," Evan said, shaking his head as if Samuel was the one being unreasonable.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's either Roman or Elliot, so you'll have to take it with them."

Evan didn't respond instead he looked first at Roman, then Elliot, before he, not all that loudly, since they were at a restaurant and he was an adult, after all, started to bang his fists into the table while chanting, "Speech, speech, speech!"
 
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When a speech was requested, Roman stood up before Elliot even got the chance to and chinked his fork against his glass playfully. Once all his friends' and family's eyes were on him, he began, a smile on his face and a delighted tone to his voice.

"Hi, hello, everyone, thank you for coming. So. Today is about celebrating friendship." Roman gestured to Elliot, Bella and Blake. "I've been friends with these guys since my first year of school, and I think I'm correct in saying how rare that is. We've been friends for almost forty years, guys, that's fucking terrifying, but it's amazing, and I'm so happy to have found you guys to call my best friends."

He then gestured to Cameron, Evan and Matilda. "Some of you guys I've known since my high school days, and while that isn't as long as primary school, obviously, it's still amazing in itself." Then, he turned his gestures to Matthew, Elissa, Gabi and Delilah. "And the rest of you, I've known since the start of my adulthood, but that's still a good twenty years. I feel so honoured and so privileged to be standing here with all of you, my absolute closest and dearest friends, and to be able to honestly say that I've known you all for so long. Sure, we've had our problems every now and then, but there is not one friendship group on the planet that hasn't."

Roman turned an affectionate gaze down to his husband, before looking up at everyone else. "And it brings genuine warmth to my heart to be able to say that I think our children will carry on our close-knit friendship too. So, thank you all for coming today, and I love you with all of my heart."
 
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Roman was quick to take the opportunity to speak, of course, he was Roman after all. And no one minded as his selection of words was quite touching. Samuel honestly felt a little teary eyed thinking how long he had been friends with this select group of people. Some longer than others, but all still greatly valued by him and each other. Once Roman was done speaking Samuel was practically beaming and everyone clapped for him.

When Roman sat down Samuel pulled him in for a little kiss on the cheek and said, "that was lovely," with a smile. To which Evan jokingly added, "Yes just what I wanted, but you're not getting any kisses from me," which caused the group to share a laugh and then they all went back to eating joking and having fun again.

There really were a whole bunch of fantastic people sitting there, people Samuel was so happy to call his friends, and like Roman had said, that he was happy had children who his own children got along with so that their friendship continued to live on through them. The fact that they all had stuck together throughout the years really was a testament to what good people everyone were. Some didn't always get along completely but it was never enough to split the group up, and that was fantastic and also reason to believe that if they all lived to that age they'd have a good forty years more of friendship ahead of them.
 
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"Daddy, I'm tired."

"So am I. Blame your papa. Everything is his fault."

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the Hemlock-Ortegas were camping, and Roman was salty about it. It wasn't that he hated the outdoors, that he was a total drama queen, or that he didn't like doing anything that involved the expenditure of any effort at all. But that was exactly what it was.

Currently, he and his family members were pitching the tent -- ew -- in one of the mountain ranges in central Victoria. As much as Roman hated being outside, he had to admit, he was looking forward to having the nice time with his family. But he was still going to grumble about it until someone pushed him down the mountain.

Roman went behind Samuel and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. "Hey, husband, I hate you, can you take us home? I'm going to be eaten alive by mosquitoes."
 
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